


Heroes Beyond Borders

by OneCoolCat



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star vs. The Forces Of Evil, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aang and Steven are cinnamon bois, Aang is the Avatar just not reincarnated ;P, Action/Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Appa Momo and Lion are the adorable animal trio, Bad Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crying, Dancing and Singing, Developing Friendships, Drama, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Family Bonding, Feels, Fighting, Fluff and Angst, For example Garnet isn't initially a fusion, Give it up for our Underdogs, Good versus Evil, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I'm throwing canon out the window, Magical Adventure, Near Death Experiences, Not Canon Compliant, Past secrets, Puppy Love, Singing, Team Bonding, Temporary Character Death, Training, Wholesomeness, Zeros to heroes, good feels, self-indulgent fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:40:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28197807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneCoolCat/pseuds/OneCoolCat
Summary: What happens when everything happens at once?Steven summons his shield for the first time, Katara and Sokka discover the Avatar and Star gets her wand, burns down the city, is then banned from it and is sent to Beach City, US to live.Short Answer:  A snowball effect.Or actual summary: The Crystal Gems, a former group of self-appointed, magical guardians of the  universe joins the Avatar, the master of all four elements and a bubbly, aloof magical princess with a powerful wand and her friend in hopes to save the universe and every dimension from the Wielder & the Fire Nation's reign.Despite their shortcomings; a goofball, half-human, half-Gem hybrid with difficulties unlocking his Gem powers, an Avatar who hasn't mastered all four elements and a princess with much to learn about being a mature leader and getting better at magic, the three of them will find surprising ways through their magical adventures to save the world. They have the Crystal Gems, the two siblings from the Water Tribe and the smart and ever cautious, Marco Diaz to help safeguard them on their journey.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Angie Diaz/Rafael Diaz, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Eclipsa Butterfly/Globgor, Lars Barriga/Sadie Miller, Moon Butterfly/River Butterfly, Star Butterfly/Marco Diaz
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **No, this story isn't in first person. This is just Katara narrating the history of what'd happened so long ago. Similar to how the show starts off**

"Magic.."  
"Monsters.."  
"Benders.."  
"Gems.."  
"Humans.."  
"Mewmans.."  


  
  


"My grandmother used to tell my brother and I stories about the ancient times. A day of peace when everything was kept balance between monsters that lurked across different dimensions, those who can manipulate elements such as air, earth, water or fire called Benders, an alien sapient rock species called Gems, humans living on Earth and those living under the reign of a Magical King and Queen in a place called Mewni."

"Everything and everyone was at peace.."

"But.. all of that changed when the Wielder of the black magic attacked their own planet."

"They continued on.. going to more planets and attacking and killing people that came across them. Only to keep the monsters alive while non monsters suffered their fate."

"With the attacks and fatalities throughout the planets increasing, four more beings that went by the name of the Diamonds emerged from within the chaos. They began terraforming planets and killing off inhabitants as they did. And in its place, new Gems emerged from the husks of the dead planets."

"Six thousand years later and the Wielder found their way to Earth. The Fire Nation, one of the elemental bending forces were the first to act. They sought to find and take down the Wielder only to be conquered themselves. And such, in a desperate plea, they surrendered and became allies." 

"They, along with the Wielder, resumed to attack every place of the world in taking down the three elemental benders and humans. This time, taking control over them and conquering them rather than killing every single inhabitant on Earth."

"Everything was sent into chaos.."

"The Wielder and the Fire Nation attacking and conquering more of Earth and the Diamonds destroying planets and making new Gems."

"More deaths.. and thousands of years of destruction and turmoil."

"People died and less were born." 

"More planets were being destroyed and more Gems were being made by the Diamonds as more benders and humans were getting hurt and put under the reign of the Wielder and the Fire Nation." 

"Eventually the Diamonds found their way to Earth. They and a group of Gems went down to the planet to defeat the Wielder and the Fire Nation, but the forces were too strong for them."

"Still they kept fighting.."

"Several months later, a Gem that went by the name of Rose Quartz emerged from the wreckage. She tried her best. Tried pleading with the two forces and made an army of her own to fend them off."

"Unfortunately they were too weak and it was all very short lived."

"The Wielder & the Fire nation and the Diamonds kept going. One of them eventually taking Rose Quartz where she was never seen or heard from again." 

"More terraforming and planets dying in exchange for new Gems."

"More people dying and more of the Earth being conquered."

"Then.. without warning, the Diamonds acted one last time. All four hands facing towards Earth in one final attack on the planet."

"They unleashed their power.."

"Only for a figure that was known as an elderly Air Nomad named Monk Gyatso to stop it. Engulfed in light, the power of the Diamonds' had been redirected. The mix of their powers and his own light cascading throughout the area; Damaging everything in its path, killing many people, benders and humans alike and corrupting Gems."

"Those under the dark magic of the Wielder were kept unharmed."

"Weakened, Monk Gyatso left the area, taking the lake of water and extinguishing the fire along with him."

"The light was seen quickly diminishing as he fled back into the city, but had never been seen again afterwards. Though some had theorized that a large glowing sphere nearing a nearby ocean was him as the last of the Diamonds' handship left the city."

"All four Diamonds went back and everyone had hoped that the Diamonds made an assumption that everything on the Earth had been destroyed as the four of them went back into space.."

"Nearly eighty-six years had passed before the mysterious disappearance of Pink Diamond, their most powerful one." 

"However, nothing new had happened apart from the Wielder and the Fire Nation conquering more of the lands. No one had heard from the Diamonds despite of their own going missing."

"Over a decade had passed and the Wielder and the Fire Nation is still nearing victory in the war.."

"Two years ago, our father and the men of our tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Wielder and the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe." 

"Some people believe that the Wielder and the Fire Nation will conquer the whole Earth. Some believe that there is a tactical reason that Pink Diamond had "disappeared" and that the Diamonds are coming back." 

"But.. most importantly.. everyone has lost hope."

"But _I_ haven't lost hope."

"I _still_ believe that somehow, some way, something extraordinary will happen. Something that no one will have ever seen coming. Something that will unfold right before our eyes and stop the madness that's encasing us all around."

  
  


"Somehow, someway, I believe- I _know_ that we will all be in peace once again."


	2. Book One: Water, Episode One: Chapter one: Choppy Waters

The air around them was below freezing. 

The sun overhead shown down its rays but made very little warmth in the icy area.

The frosted water slushed within the iced shards of flowing ice caps and mountainous, solid white glaciers loomed overhead. 

There, within the glacial atmosphere, were two siblings inside of a canoe. The two of them at a stop as they looked for any nearby fish within the area.

The brother had a determined, almost a near complacent look on his cheeky smiling face. He held up his spear. "This fish isn't getting away from me _this_ time." the cheeky smile turned into a smug smirk. "Just watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." his eyes focused on several fishes swimming around the boat.

Katara hadn't answered her as she herself looked at the frosted waters below them.

One lone fish swam from below the boat and into view.

A thought quickly came to her mind and with a bit of shy hesitation on her part, she slid one blue glove off. 

Her bare palm was facing the waters and in a direct path of the fish.

She took a deep breath and dipped her arm down before flowing it gently back up in one gentle, smooth motion.

Ripples began to form on the surface of the water. 

She stayed with the motion. Her hand lay open as her arms flowed down and back up.

The ripples grew more agitated before a small blob of water plopped up from the surface of the ocean. Inside of it was the fish swimming in circles inside of the small enclosure. 

A look of shock came to her face as she saw before her eyes her own waterbending in the form of a small ball of water that was currently holding their potential meal.

"Sokka! Look!" she tried to keep a steady breath as she focused on her hand. 

"Shh, Katara." her brother whispered. "You're gonna end up scaring the fishes away." a look of bliss came to his face and a rather dopey grin adorned his hungry, trembling lips. He licked them, "Mmm, I can already taste them."

She kept her attention on keeping the water together. She tried keeping a steady voice as she kept her eyes on the water bubble as not to break her focus. Softly, she moved her arms side to side to keep the bubble up in the air. "But, Sokka, I caught one. I caught one of the fish." her face contorted just slightly as she tried keeping the bubble in the air. She moved her arms back and forth and gently in a smooth motion, moved her hands towards her. 

The bubble of water began to make its way towards them. 

Sokka kept his attention on the now single fish swimming in front of him. He leaned forward and brought the head of the spear closer towards him. 

The fish was directly in front of him.

"There we go.." he whispered with a mischievous grin.

Katara kept her eyes on the fish within the water as she turned her body around slightly while bringing the ball of water just above the boat. Her mouth laid partially open as she focused more on bringing the bubble down towards the boat-

Now ready to make his strike, Sokka pulled the spear back.

The butt of the stick hit the bubble, making the spherical water burst instantly.

"Ah- hey!" Katara watched as the fish flew overhead and plop back into the water.

The bubbled water, now having been broken open, fell into his shoulders in a small splash and he let out a startled, irritated yelp.

He pivoted around in his seat. His thick, blue fur coat was drenched at the shoulders and little specks of water left the material of his sleeves as he flung his arms up into the air, "WHY is it that _every_ single time that you play with magical water, _I'm_ always the one getting soaked?"

"For the last time. It's _not_ magic. It's _waterbending_." she corrected. "And you know that it's an-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeaahh, I know. It's an aaancient art unique to our culture~." he mocked and he didn't see his sister fold her arms.

"Blah, blah, blah." he continued to mock. "Those who have it are sOoOoOoo special, blah, blah, blah." he waved his hand at her without even giving her a single glance over his shoulder. "Look, all I'm saying, is that if _I_. _Me"_ he placed an opened hand on his chest before bringing it back down, "had any weird powers, I'd gladly keep my weirdness to myself." 

"You're calling.. _me_ weird because I can move water, but yet, _I'm_ not the one making muscles at myself in the reflection in the water." she retorted.

The young teen was grinning smugly at the water as he flexed his arm. He stopped upon hearing the rebuttal and turned back to her. He opened his mouth to counter, when a bright teal light shot up into the air from miles of them.

They watched in silence at the mysterious beam of light piercing through the clouds and ending who knows where in the sky.

The ray of light vanished seconds later and still, they sat and stood there looking out at the general direction. 

"What.. _was_ that?" Katara asked. She looked to her brother.

He was still looking off into the distance. "I'm not sure." he picked up his paddle beside him and faced forward in the boat. "But we should get out of here. For all we know, that could be one of the signal flares from the Fire Nation." he placed the blade of the paddle into the water. "We need to get back to the village and warm them of a possible attack." 

"Right." Katara sat back down in the boat and grabbed her paddle.

The two of them began to paddle back towards their family.

The blade of their paddles trudged through the ice infested waters. 

Sokka looked back and Katara did the same.

There was no light jutting up into the sky.

She looked at her brother wordlessly and they locked eyes. 

He turned his self forward once more. "Just keep going." he pushed the paddle through the ice.

They proceeded to paddle through the waters.

A sudden vibration erupted from the water, sending the icebergs to crack around them and causing the ocean to churn into quick spirals around them. They screamed as they held onto the side of their canoe. 

Water splashed violently around them, some of the ice splashing and burning their faces as they lost control of their boat. Their bodies banged left and right as the canoe spun and dipped into the waters. 

The boat barley nicked an incoming ice cap and they were spun once more as the vibrations diminished. 

The canoe rocked violently and dipped forward before being pushed back then to its side within the currents, just one second away before tipping over. 

"Lean right!! Lean right!!" Sokka shouted. 

They leaned right before the boat banked a hard left and hitting another piece of ice. The canoe went airborne for a full second before crashing back into the now calming waters. The force of the boat still spinning them slowly.

They panted. Their hands still gripping the sides of the canoe.

"Katara.. are you okay?" 

"Y, yeah.." she breathed in heavily. "I'm okay.." 

They looked around the icy waters, as far as the eye could see.

"That has _never_ happened before." Katara tried to keep the apprehension from her voice. "Even when we hit currents it was never that bad.."

Sokka was already picking up his paddle and putting it back into the water. "It has to be the Fire Nation." he started paddling hard and redirecting the slowly spinning canoe towards the East. "We have to get back to the village fast."

Katara picked up her paddle and joined her brother and the two of them began to paddle through the frigid, frosty waters. 

Only but a few minutes passed when another shock erupted from the ocean. 

"AH!! It's happening again!!" Sokka shrieked.

Glaciers cracked under the pressure as large chunks broke off from the sides and slammed into the water. Ice caps and chunk of iceberg crashed into each other as miniature rapids formed along the ocean. 

The canoe was pulled into a current and was rushed down into the choppy, icy waters.

They tried paddling against the current, but to no avail. 

Another shockwave erupted from the ocean and more glaciers ruptured up and cracked from the impact of the shock.

"Watch out!" Katara shouted.

Large, flat caps of ice were rushing up towards them. 

They tried paddling harder, faster within the current as they barely rocked pass the pieces of ice. The edges of caps scratched and dug across the wooded material of the boat.

"Go left!" Katara shouted.

They fruitlessly paddled within the rapid current. 

"Go left! Go left!"

Two large, hulking pieces of ice closed in the distance on either side of them.

More screams echoed through the area as they jumped out the boat, with Sokka managing to take his spear with him.

The canoe was crushed and shattered instantly between the caps. 

They landed hard on their stomachs on a flat piece of ice. It banked behind them and bounced forward before slowly rocking back and forth before softly floating against the now calm waters of the ocean.

The two of them panted as they shifted off of their stomachs to a sitting position on the surface of the ice.

"So.. you call _that_ left?" Katara chided.

"You don't like my steering." Sokka retorted before throwing his hands up and saying rather mockingly, "Well, maybe you should've _waterbended_ us" he pushed his hands forward and up into the air. "out of the water." he dropped his hands back down to his knees. "Or at the very least stopped the current we were in." he added in a snarky manner. _"That_ would've been smart of you to do. We wouldn't even be in this mess." 

"What! Are you saying it's _my_ fault?"

"Uh, yeah!" he slid around on his butt to face her. "I _knew_ that I should've left you home and went by myself. I'm a warrior, it's not like I needed your help anyway." he shook his head. "Just leave it to a _girl_ to screw things up. Yeah, that's nothing new."

The words ran through her head, and she was practically igniting each of his words on fire in her mind.

Her eyebrows creased as she bared her teeth. 

"YOU!" she yelled. "are the most. SEXIST. STUPID!" she stomped her boot hard on the ice. "IMMATURE! NUTBRAINED!-- I'm embarrassed to be related to someone like you!" the water behind her began to churn as a small crack shot up into a glacier behind her.

Her brother sat there unfazed during her yelling until he saw that.

His eyes went pass her to see the waters crashing up against the iceberg with every movement of her arms as the ice steadily cracked behind her.

"Ever since mom died, it's been _me_ who've been doing every single piece of the work around the village! While _YOU_ live in your own _fantasy_ land and trying to be some soldier!" a swing of one arm sent another wave to crash into the glacier as the ice cracked up the side of the iceberg.

"Ah.. Katara-"

"No! I'm NOT done!" she yelled him. "Not to mention that I wash all of the clothes! And for years!" she leaned in and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Have YOU ever smelled your dirty socks?"

Sokka watched on in trepidation as pieces of the iceberg began to chip off and plunge into the water.

"Katara-"

"Let me tell you! It's not. PLEASANT!" she swung her hands being herself and the waters shot up into the air and collided against the surface of the iceberg. "It's disgusting! Revolting.. WRONG!"

"Katara, settle down-!"

"No! I WON'T settle down! THAT'S it! This is the LAST straw!" she stomped. "I'm DONE helping you! From THIS point on. you're on. your OWN!" she swung her arms down hard behind her one last time and the icy waves rushed away from her and slammed into the surface of the iceberg. Chunks of ice began to fall and Katara turned around as a large mass of the iceberg shifted hard off the top as the rest of it came rushing down into sharp, chunks and pieces into the water.

The impact of the ice masses as it plummeted into the water caused several huge waves to push in front of them and the two were pushed away from the impact. Sokka slammed the head of the spear into the ice and held on as Katara fell back and slid back on the ice. A short scream came from her before she felt her brother's hand grab her sleeve as the ice cap they were on shot through the ocean.

Sokka held on tight and the two hoped the head of the spear would keep sturdy within the ice as the flat chunk of ice bulldozed it's way through other thick patches of ice in its path.

Slowly, the ice cap began to lose its momentum and it soon rocked hard to the side and back to the other before it came to a slow float across the steady moving ocean.

The two laid there and moments later, Sokka let go of his sister's wrist.

He pulled his self to sitting on his legs as she pushed herself up to a sit.

They watched the new chunks of ice as they floated and mixed in with the other ice caps around them. 

Sokka's face dropped to something of annoyance, though there was something airy to his tone as he said, "Well, Katara. Looks like you've officially gone from weird. to freakish." 

She looked at the area with newfound astonishment. "Wait.. you mean.. _I_ did all of that?" 

He nodded. "Yup." he gave her a sarcastic smirk as he nudged her. _"Congratulations."_

Another shockwave layered below them as the ocean churned around them.

"Are you KIDDING me! It's happening AGAIN!" Sokka grabbed hold of the shaft of his spear and Katara pushed off from the ice to grab hold of the spear and he threw his arm around her.

She gasped. "Sokka! We were supposed to warn the village of the Fire Nation, remember! What if they're getting closer!" 

"AHH!!" he shrieked. "That's right!!" 

The waters pushed them up and spun them around and rocked them hard to the side before the ice plunged into the water and bounced back up. The current pulled them down in whatever direction as rapid currents spun and churned in small whirlpools around them. Cold gusts of winds suddenly slammed into their face and shaved snow and ice sent the area in front of them in a cold, icy haze. 

"I.. I can't see." Katara coughed into the wind. She brought her arm up to her face.

Her brother held onto her as he squinted his eyes through the violent gusts of cold winds.

Moments later and the gusts stopped completely. They slowly opened their eyes as the strong current continued to pull them in. 

The ice cap was spun around once more and the two saw another light shooting up into the sky. This one a slightly different color. It was bigger, stronger than the first beam of light with a more bluish hue to it.

"Is that another flare?!" Katara yelled.

"I think so!" Sokka yelled back.

The current pulled them in harder.

Her brother screamed as he clung his body to the ice. He pulled his sister in. "And I think we're going right to it!!" 


	3. Chapter two: The boy in the iceberg

A teal, cylindrical beam of bright light vanished and there stood _and one floated_ , several figures on top of a crystalline platform that was no more than a few inches above the sheet of ice below them.

"Ohohohooo." a chubby, stout figure well bundled in his puffy red pants and snow coat laughed as he floated for a split second in the air before falling flat on his stomach with an, "Oof!" 

The tallest one with maroon-colored skin and black hair styled into a cube-shaped afro stepped off the pad and onto the ice. She adjusted the visor on her face as the purple, round Gemstone laid between her eyes. "I know the Centipeedle is here somewhere." she stated bluntly. She began to walk away from the group. 

The young boy stood up and looked around the white ice that seemed to stretch for miles. Dark blue waters flowed around and in-between the ice. 

"Whoa.." and he saw his breath as it wafted away from his mouth.

Two other figures; a tall, slim one with ivory skin, a pointed nose and light peach hair resembling a pixie cut with the back leading up to a precise point and a shorter, more stout one with lilac skin and thick, messy, pale lavender hair down to her ankles, with a large bang obscuring her left eye and a gemstone on her chest, the bottom of it covered by an off-shoulder tank top, stepped off of the pad and followed the first figure. 

The boy was too enthused with the area. He stayed on the crystallized pad as he panned from one side and took in as much ice and snow and water as his eyes of wonder could.

He continued to pan his head around until he reached as far as he could to the side. He went to do another pan over when something very small caught his eye. He looked back. 

Very faintly he could make out a boat with what looked to be two people on it. 

He leaned forward and squinted his eyes as he placed a hand just above his eyes mainly for dramatic effect than the glare of the afternoon sun.

He could only make out just those general details; A boat with two people. 

He leaned back on the heel of his snow boots as he dropped his hand back down. "Guys?" he watched the near dot grow more distant away from him. "I think I see some people here."

Moments later and the stout, purple figure from before came running up to him. "Whatchu talking about 'people'." she joked. 

He pointed a gloved hand in the general direction. "Over there." and she looked. "I saw a boat and, two people on it." 

She tilted her head as she squinted. 

Just moments later and she let out a scoffed, "Pffft. I don't see anything." 

He looked. 

The boat and the two people were gone.

He dropped his hand and turned to her. "But, I, I really did see some people there." 

"Yeaaah, I think the cold is already getting to that head of yours, Steve-O." she said in jest.

His shoulders slumped slightly. "But.." he pointed a thumb to his side. "I really did-" 

Amethyst stretched out her arms and grabbed the boy on either side. He didn't protest as she brought her arms back towards her and kept the boy hoisted above her head. "Yeahh, yeah. Steven. It was probably one of those, water dog thingies." she began running across the ice and towards the two other figures cautiously making their way to ever looming, humongous glaciers.

"You mean seals?" the boy was looking down at her.

She shrugged and he went up and back down as she did. "Don't know. They're the ones that slide on their bellies, right?" 

  
  


The two of them were approaching the two figures up ahead.

Both turned around, but the slim one was the first one to speak as she placed her knuckles on her hips. The teal tassels on her shirt flowed in the wind. "Oh, there you are Amethyst." her tone was scolding. "What were you two doing? You know Steven" she gestured a dainty hand at the boy before bringing it back to her hip "needs to stay close to us."

Amethyst placed him down beside her. She chuckled, almost cackling. "Steven here says he saw some people." 

" 'People'?" the woman's mouth twisted to the side. "Here in the deep parts of the South Pole?"

"I did!" he threw his arms up. "They. were on. a boat!" 

"See?" Amethyst chuckled under her breath.

"But-"

"Steven." the tallest one cut in. She leaned down towards him. "We're all the way down in the most deepest, _deepest_ part of the South Pole." he looked at the reflection of himself in her visor. "There's no human inhabitants here. Only animals." he watched his self nod slowly.

She leaned back up. "We should make this quick. We poof and bubble the Centipeedle and we head back to the temple." 

Steven didn't look as amused as he thought back on what he'd seen and the Gems not believing him. 

Amethyst cheered at that. "Yayaayeee!" she pivoted around to him. "Come on, Steven! You get to see us in action!" 

The frown on his face only deepened as now a new thought came to his head of never being able to participate. He pouted. _"I'm_ never in the action.."

"Eheh, well, dooooy. That's because you haven't" she poked him in his stomach before tickling it and he couldn't help but laugh, though sadly as she wiggled her stubby fingers on his coat. "summoned any powers from that gemstone of yours yet." she continued to tickle him and he continued to laugh despite himself.

The slim one now had a worried look to her face. She raised a hand up to her mouth as she turned to the tall one. "Garnet." she whispered. "Do you really think this is such a good idea? I mean, he doesn't have any powers and he could get seriously hurt." her voice dropped to a rather culpable tone. "I know we decided to take him with us after that.. microwave burrito incident.. and we don't want to leave him unsupervised in the temple.. but what if this is just as bad? Or even worse? We're talking about a corrupted Gem here. He's also a Gem, but he's more human if anything." 

Garnet stood there without a single word and seconds ticked pass as the slim one saw Steven and Amethyst looking into the water at the edge of the ice cap. The Gem had said something to him and he leaned over. She said something more and he leaned farther and she splashed ice cold water into his face. He let out a choked yelp as he threw his hands to his face. The Gem pointed at him and laughed. 

Apprehensive began to creep into the gemstone on her forehead-

"Steven will be fine." 

She snapped her eyes away from the two and turned her attention back to Garnet. "What?"

She nodded with a smirk. "He'll be fine, Pearl." she turned around. "Let's go. We can't let this Gem get away from us this time." she walked away from them.

"Ah-" she raised a finger and opened her mouth to say something, but quickly decided against it. She sighed. 

"Amethyst. Steven." 

The boy was running away and screaming as Amethyst ran after him with arms outstretched.

"Knock it off, Amethyst." 

The Gem dropped her arms and rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"Steven." Pearl's mouth was tight. "Please. Be very, _very._ careful. This is your first time being on an actual mission with us. You need to be vigilant." 

He nodded with a smile. "I'm vigilant!" he made a very heroic pose with his chest poked out and his hands curled into fists and on his waist.

Amethyst smacked him behind the head, "Ow!" and he nearly topped over, "Whoaaa~" he caught his self and fixed the winter hat on his head. "Hey!" 

Amethyst cackled. "Thought you said you were 'vigilant'." she turned away and ran passed Pearl and towards Garnet.

"Oh, grow up, Amethyst." Pearl scolded.

The Gem's cackling laughter was her rebuttal.

Pearl turned back around and sighed with a shake of her head. She took her steps towards Steven and crouched down in font of him. She took each end of the scarf and properly tucked them within his coat and _re_ fixed his hat on his head and pulled the edges down towards the earmuffs on his ears. 

She stood back up and placed a gentle hand on his back. "Let's go." she said. "And remember." she raised a finger. "Be extra vigilant."

".. xtra vigilant." he said with her.

"Right." she gave him a single, proud nod.

The two walked towards the glaciers and saw Garnet and Amethyst standing yards away from them. Both Gems looking around and scouting out the area- 

The sheet of ice trembled underneath of them. 

"Whoaaaaa." Steven scrambled over his feet as the ground shook harder around them. Cracks formed along the white ice.

"Gems!" Garnet warned. "Be on a lookout."

The ice quaked hard and cracks formed up the icebergs in front of them. Bits of ice fell from the surface of them. One side now revealing glowing ice from underneath it. 

Something huge and a mixture of green amd black erupted from the thick sheet of ice and roared loudly into the air. 

Ice shards and water bursted outwards to them.

Steven gasped. "The Centipeedle!" he pointed and Pearl stepped in front of him to block the oncoming ice and snow debris. She took a step away and held out her hand in front of her forehand. The gemstone on her head glowed as a hilt of a spear flowed out of the stone. She pulled the weapon from her gem. 

"Cool." Steven whispered. "Whoa." Pearl picked him up and he fell across her shoulder. She jumped up into the air, clearing twenty feet up and passing the fight between Garnet and Amethyst and the charging Centipeedle.

She landed far away from the fight and by the surface of an icy glacier that smoothed into white another white glacier right beside it. She set him down.

"Aww.. come on, Pearl."

"It's too dangerous. Until you can summon any powers from your gem, you have to stay put where it's safe and let us do the work." she looked at the oddly colored glacier beside them. She gestured at it with her hand and her tone was more casual and light-hearted. "Why, you can just stay here by this florescent, oddly, crystal blue hued perfectly rounded sphere." an appreciative grin came to her face. "This is definitely the safest spot to be." she pat him on the head, pivoted around on her light blue flats and jumped away.

He watched as she threw her spear and landed back on the ice without a single slide across the surface of it. 

The head of the spear hit one of the green segments of the Centipeedle's chitinous exoskeleton.

A whip wrapped around the upper part of her body, near her head. 

He saw Amethyst at the other end of the purple rope and trying to pull her back, only to get pulled forward. Her heels dug into the ice as she was forced back towards the corrupted gem. She grunted, and pulled her arms back yet to no avail of pulling the gem towards her. 

Garnet jumped on top of the head of the gem and she began thrashing her head back and forth.

Pearl raised her hand in front of her gem as another spear materialized from out of the glowing surface. She grabbed the hilt of it-

The Centipeedle threw her head back violently, slamming Garnet into the glacier. The gem free fell towards the ice as the corrupted gem sprung her neck forward as a short spurt of green spewed from the eyeball in her mouth.

Pearl pulled the weapon from her gemstone and jumped away. 

The green substance splattered against the surface of the sheet of ice and instantly, the acid began eating the ice away.

Pearl had thrown her spear towards the Gem's face.

The Gem looked in her direction as the head of the spear went into a bottom part of her eye.

She screeched loudly and thrashed her head about. Her multiple legs stomped in pain. She opened her mouth to reveal her trembling eye. Green ooze coughed up from it, disintegrating the spear and getting rid of the irritant. 

"Awww.." Steven pouted. He fell haphazardly and in a fit on his butt. Arms folded and pouting lips he mumbled sadly, "It's not fair. They get to do all of this cool stuff while I just.." he looked at the white icy snow he was sitting on. "sit here and do nothing but watch.."

His eyebrows furrowed. 

He pulled up the fabric of his coat, sweater, thermals and shirt to reveal his bare belly. A pink, shiny gemstone where his bellybutton would be. 

It lay there.. doing absolutely nothing.

Just like him..

His brows knitted in more. "Stupid not working gemstone." he chided. He pulled his clothes back down and looked at the cold area. "Stupid South Pole being so cold. Stupid, stupid Centipeedle messing up my day with the Gems." he got up and turned to the iceberg beside him and pointed at it as he stood on his toes. "And stupid, stuuupid glowwy iceberg!" he threw his arms into a fold and he pulled his chin inwards into his scarf.

He stood there pouting for a few moments before his face slowly went from something of resentful vexation to annoyance to remorse and to sadness as he looked away guiltily from the sphere with a frown to his face. He sighed and dropped his arms. 

He looked back up at the iceberg. "I'm sorry." he apologized. He took a few steps towards it and gently placed a gloved hand on the surface of it. "You're not a stupid, glowwy iceberg. That was mean of me to say that." he looked at his sad, blue tinted reflection within the ice. "I just wished that I could.. I don't know, do _something_ with my gem. Something. Anything... you know?"

The iceberg didn't respond back. 

He sighed and placed his forehead on the ice cold surface. "I sure wish that I would be able to use my gem one day. I would go on missions, help people, and do all sorts of stuff with my new power.." he frowned. "If only I had one.. but, I don't.." he kept his forehead on the ice as he turned his head up slightly to look at the glacier. "Oh, to be an iceberg. You have it all too easy, buddy. All you have to do is sit here and watch the cute, adorable seals slide on their bellies and eat fish.." 

  
  


Amethyst dodged the pincer-like tail of the corrupted gem. She went for a double back flip as the pincer swung pass and went towards Garnet who caught it with her gauntlets.

Amethyst lowered her hand to the purple gem on her chest. The gemstone glowed and a purple whip formed out of it. She grabbed the weapon and ran to the side of the gem and caught sight of Steven talking to the block of ice.

"Uh junk.." she sounded unenthused. "Hey guys, Steven is talking to inanimate objects again."

Pearl jumped off of the iceberg as the head of the corrupted gem head smashed into the ice. She landed just several feet from Amethyst and summoned another spear. "So long as he's not getting hurt doing it, I'm fine with it." she ran pass the stout Gem.

The tail raised up as Garnet held tightly onto it with a tense look on her face. The tail slammed back down and Garnet landed down hard on her feet as the pincer tried pushing her farther into the ground. "And who are we to stifle his creativity?" she grunted.

"Eh, ya gotta point." she smirked. She resumed her run back towards the corrupted gem. She jumped up towards her face that was looking away and at Pearl who was running up to her. She spat out acid at the gem and Pearl side stepped out the way. The acid landed where she once was and ate up the ice, revealing the icy blue water beneath. 

"Iiiiii got ya now, eyeball!!" she raised her whip up in her hand.

The Centipeedle's head snapped towards her.

"Time to get you!" she spun her whip-

The Centipeedle turned away from her and Amethyst grinned, thinking she frightened the gem, before the tail of it came rushing towards her with Garnet still holding onto it.

"AAHH!!" the tail and Garnet collided into her, sending them both crashing back into the ice and sliding a few feet across it.

They got up quickly to their feet and ran back towards the corrupted gem.

  
  


Steven was sitting back down with his back leaning against the ice. The boy was still sulking over his lack of powers.

He sighed. "If only I could summon my _own_ power like the Gems can.." he brought his gloved hand to his coat right where his gem was underneath it. "What would it even be?" he looked up to see Pearl running with her spear. She threw it at the face of the corrupted gem and she dodged It and lunged her head at Pearl, tackling the thick sheet of ice. Pearl landed on top of her head and scaled part of her body and jumped off. She spun around as she summoned another spear and quickly through it towards the gem. The spearhead went into her eye, sending the corrupted gem into another fit of screeches and stomps.

"Would it be a spear like Pearl's?"

He looked at Amethyst holding onto her whip. The other end wrapped up tightly to the Centipeedle's torso as she continued to buck and thrash, causing Amethyst to bounce and rebound. The purple Gem waved on hand out at her side as she rocked and bounced on the back of the corrupted gem like a rodeo star. 

"Or a whip like Amethyst's?"

He looked over at Garnet lunging towards the gem. Acid began to seep out of the corrupted gem's eye in a potential attack. She pulled her left arm back and shot it forward in a hard jab across the gem's lower mandible. The impact sent the gem's head hurdling towards the ground as it lost balance, only to quickly regain it and use the momentum to spin her body and throwing her tail towards Garnet where the stoic gem caught it once more. 

"Or gauntlets like Garnet's?

He watched the fight for a few more moments before looking down at his coat. "Or.. maybe something else?"

"Hmm..." he turned his head to the side at the iceberg. "Maybe I can try activating it." he pushed back up to his feet. "And, and if I can, I'll be able to fight alongside with the Gems!" he threw both arms in the air triumphantly. "I can help them defeat the Centipeedle! Then I'll be able to go on actual missions! And help people and do other cool stuff!" he turned around fully to face the iceberg and brought both hands to his waist. "Hm." he wondered. "Now how can I summon my weapon.." 

A memory of a year ago came to his mind.

A memory of the summer as he and Pearl were alone in a Grove of beautiful, blossoming trees.

 _"Now, pay very close attention to these petals, Steven. The petals' dance_ seems _improvised, but they are actually being calculated in real time based on the physical properties of this planet. With hard work and dedication, you too can master the magical properties of your own gemstone and perform your own dance!"_

Steven watched his tight lipped look in the reflection of the iceberg. "Pearl made it look so easy that day..-But! That was a year ago. I'm older now! So, by default that means I _have_ to be a year stronger as well!" he looked around the icy area and his smile dropped slightly. "Aw man.. but.. it's not the summer time.. and, there are no flower petals laying around.." 

There was a pile of shaved ice and snow from the fight.

"I'll be right back." he walked away from the iceberg. 

"This should do just find." he scooped up an armful of snow and walked back to the glacier. He let go and the pile of snow dropped to the ground. He crouched down to the pile and grabbed both fistfuls of snow. He began making something out of the shaved ice. "I may not have actual flowers." he explained to the huge, towering chunk of ice. "But maybe I can make flower petals out if it and throw it up in the air." he made a few more flower petals on the ground. "That should help me unlock the powers of my gem." 

He leaned back from his masterpiece.

Soft snow formed into sloppy replicas of flower petals that.. looked more like random flat shapes with lines along them.

"Perfect!" 

He used both hands on either side and began scooping up the snowwy makeshift flower petals. The soft snow began breaking instantly as his hands ran underneath of them and as they were being pushed into other makeshift snow petals. "Oh no.. they're already breaking." he whined.

He tried his best to gently scooped up the snow petals. His tongue out in concentration as he slowly stood up straight to his feet.

He looked at the now pile of crushed snow in his hands.

He groaned. "They don't even look like flower petals anymore.." he sighed and continued with what he was going to do. 

"Uh.. something something, flower dance. Something, calculated in real time, something, something.. hard work and dedication and.. magical dance!" he threw the snow up and it all came back down, some on his face and coat and the rest on the ground. 

He pulled up all four layers of his clothing and looked down at his gem.

The pink gem day didn't so much as twinkle.

"Aww.. looks like the flower petal dance didn't work.." he pulled his clothes back down. "Maybe I really _do_ need real flowers for that.." he turned his attention back to his reflection. "Hmm.."

Another memory came to his mind.

This one, also a year ago and during the summer time. 

A memory of him and Amethyst standing by the side of a bakery building. The Gem was trying to help him summon his weapon.

_"Let me guess.. Pearl told you about the "petal thing", didn't she?"_

_"Yeah, I need to practice really, really hard so I can dance gracefully like a tree or.. flower?... I think?"_

_She shook her head, grinning. "Steeeeven, Steven, Steven. You're going about this all wrong."_

_"I am?"_

_"Yeah. All that boring stuff is what_ Pearl _does best. And all that practice stuff is no fun. You see, whenever_ I _need to summon my weapon, it just happens."_

"Okay.. so I just need to.. not practice and.. have fun and just.. go with the flow of things" he nodded. "I do that all the time. That should be easy." he smiled. He took a few steps back to give his self and the iceberg some room. 

"Okay. Here I go." he began flowing his arms up and down in front of him. His eyes closed and a soft smile to his face as he brought his arms out to his side and began shaking them about as he lightly stamped his feet in rhythm. "Oookayy~~ Mhmm.. Feeeeel it. Feeeel the power coursing through my geeem." he waved his arms back in front of him. "Uh huh.. uh huh.. I think I'm getting something here. I~ think I am!" he waved his arms out quicker and moved his feet in circles. "Yeah.. uh huh.. this is it. This is definitely it. Ahhhh~~ aaaaaaaaaaand~~~ now!" he threw his arms out as he opened his eyes. 

No weapon was in front of him.

"Nnnnow!" he threw his arms up again.

No weapon.

"Nnow! Now! Now! Now! Now! Nnnnnnow!!" he threw his arms up one last time.

Nothing.

He frowned and dropped his arms back to his side. "Aw.. I thought for sure that was going to work.."

He pulled up his clothes and looked at his belly. "Why are you so shy, friend?" he asked his gem. He grabbed at his belly. "Do you not _want_ to save the Earth from corrupted Gems?" he asked sadly.

_  
_

The gemstone did nothing.

He sighed and let go and his belly jiggled slightly. He pulled his clothes back down and slowly and in near defeat, looked back up at the ice. "I guess there's only one more thing I can do.." he frowned.

It was of something that Garnet had told him a year ago.

It was just them two.

_"So.. I'm supposed to work reaaally hard and.. not try at all at the same time?"_

_"Correct." then the stoic gem added. "Or... you could link your mind with the energy of all existing matter. Channeling the collective power of the universe through your gemstone!"_

"Aah!" he held his head. "I STILL don't even know what any of that even means!" he dropped his hand from his head. "What if I _never_ get to summon a weapon.." 

He pulled up the layers of his clothing once more and looked at the non glowing, pink gemstone on his stomach. 

He poked the side of it and still, nothing happened. 

He sighed.

  
  


Amethyst landed back on the ice. She let out a dramatic groan. "How are we going to beat this stupid, acid spitting thing?" her eyes went wide as another short spout of acid came towards her. "Amethyst!" Garnet yelled.

The purple gem barely jumped out the way and performed a perfect barrel roll across the ice.

The acid flew pass her. 

"Oh, pink, smooth gem.. what will it take for you to work?" Steven said in a poetic, solemn rhythm. 

His eyes never left the rosy gemstone. 

"Will it ever be a time for you to awaken and unlock your true power.. Will there be a time you think I am worthy of such a role of being the holder of your power?" 

"Steven!!" he heard Pearl yell out his name.

"Huh?" he looked up and saw the green acid coming right for him. He dropped his coat and threw his hands in front of his face. "AHHHHH!!!"

"Steven!!" Pearl was running towards him. 

Garnet was already far ahead of her. She picked up a solid piece of ice in her path and landed in front of Steven. She held the slab of ice up and the acid splashed over it. 

Steven still had his eyes covered as he screamed. 

She picked him up and he stopped and pulled his hands from his face. "Garnet!" he cheered. 

The gem kept the melting ice in front of them and ran in a line as the corrupted gem continued to spew the acid at them. 

The line of acid ceased as the corrupted gem stopped to recharge.

Garnet dropped the melting piece of ice and jumped away from the corrupted gem's line of sight. She landed between Pearl and Amethyst who were wielding their own weapons in their hands. 

"This Gem is really starting to bug me." said Amethyst. 

A look of realization came over Steven and a dopey smile came to his face. "Oh, I get it! 'Cause it's shaped like one of those centipede bug thingies!"

The Gems looked at him confused.

"Eeheh.. you know? Like, the ones with all of those legs that crawl on walls." 

The confusion lingered on their faces as they stood there silently..

Steven glanced at the three of them.

Garnet looked to the two Gems. "Let's just finish this. We go for a sneak attack. She won't see us coming." 

Pearl and Amethyst nodded and held their weapons up. "Right."

The three turned away from the boy-

"Wait! Guys!"

They turned back around.

"M, maybe I can help! Maybe I can summon my weapon!" 

Pearl looked to Garnet. 

The Gem shrugged slightly. "We can let him try." she turned to the boy. "Go on, Steven."

"Yay!" he gave a quick cheer before leveling his voice. "Okay, here goes." he took a breath. "Mmmmm~~" he stood still. "Flower daaaance~~.. Mmm~~~" he began slowly bring his arms out in front of him. Moments later he began flowing them up and down. "Magical properties of a tree~~ Mmmm~~... Just.. go with the flow of things~~" he kicked a leg out and wiggled it.

The Gems looked to one another. 

"Energyyy~~~ existing matteeerrr~~ Mmmmm~~~~ Hunnnnmngmmmm~~~ powerrrr of the uuniveeeeerse~~~ hyaaaaaa~~~." he shook his limbs out and went for a few jumping jacks. 

They raised their eyebrows up at him.

"Aaaaand heeeere... GOEEESS!!" he dipped his legs down and jumped up as high as he could, just a few inches off the ground. "Gem weapon!!" he landed back down and looked around.

No weapon. 

He frowned.

The Gems looked at the sad looking boy.

Pearl had an apologetic look to her face. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, the main thing is that you tried."

He looked down at his feet.

A gauntlet hand was placed under his chin and gently pushed his head back up. The glare of her visor tinted blue from his angle. "You'll be able to summon your weapon." Garnet smiled. "Sooner than you think." she dropped her hand from his chin. 

"Come on, Pearl. Amethyst." she said and jumped away. Pearl jumped away after her. 

Amethyst took one last glance over at Steven. "Aye, don't worry, bud. Maybe next time." Steven looked at her. "And besides, it's been _this_ long it hasn't been working. So it's not like it makes much of a difference _now."_ she said casually. She summoned another whip and with one in each hand, she jumped away.

Steven looked down at the ice. "She's right.. I haven't been able to use my gem all of _this_ time.. Maybe I'll never active it-" 

Another earthquake erupted and shook the ice sheet under them.

"Whoaaa!" he stumbled over his feet before pushing off into a stumbling run. "AAHHH!! Iceberg buddy!!" 

He clung to the surface of the iceberg and held onto it as the violent vibrations caused more of the sheet of ice to crack and plunge down into the water.

He looked up and saw the Gems looking around and below them as deep cracks formed along the surface of the ice. 

Snow and ice erupted from the ground as the Centipeedle shot up from the water. She dove down towards the Gems and the three dodged her. 

They saw the corrupted gem running back to another hole in the ice and they ran after her. 

Amethyst threw her whip and the rope wrapped around at a segment just below her head. Amethyst threw the second whip and pulled her hands towards her. Her boots slid across the ice before a second of her being pulled up from the ground before Pearl grabbed her torso and pulled her back down. Amethyst took a step forward for Pearl to grab a handhold on the two ropes. The two pulled harder and took one single step back. 

Garnet ran in front of them and grabbed the two whips. The three steadily took their steps back. 

The Centipeedle was being pulled back from the hole. She struggled to overpower all three Gems.

"I.. think we got her!" Amethyst yelled. She grunted as she pulled on the whips.

The Centipeedle turned to the ropes between them. She opened her mouth and fired out a stream of green acid. 

The substance ate through both whips and the Gems were sent flying back as the Centipeedle dove back fast into the water.

Amethyst growled out loudly. "Oh, come. ON!!" 

"If only we had a weapon, like a shield or some sort that could withstand it." Garnet said plainly.

Pearl sighed. "But we don't.."

The three were getting back up and looking around below them once more.

  
  


The ground continued to shake as Steven watched the Gems look around themselves. 

"Aww.." he whined. "Too bad they can't see below them." he conversed with the iceberg. "I mean, who can even do that! Know exactly where something is underground?.. heh.." he made his self laugh. "Like that's even possible."

The vibrations sent fissures up the icebergs and slabs of ice chunks began plummeting down towards him. He yelped and ran from the steadily cracking glaciers as he raised his hands over his head. "I guess that was a bad idea to be anywhere near tall structures during a quake!!" he yelled. 

He saw a shadow on the ground getting bigger below him. He looked up to see a solid piece of white ice coming towards him. He screamed and jumped away.

The heavy chunk of ice slammed into the ground and cracked slightly. 

Steven panted and his body shook with fear and adrenaline. He slowly pushed his self up to his knees and turned around to look at the chunk of ice twice as big as him.

"That...was close.." 

"I think the gem went that way!" he heard Amethyst shout.

He slid in his knees to face the fight. 

The Gems were running towards nothing when the Centipeedle bursted out from another part of the ice.

"Ha! I KNEW it!" Amethyst gloated.

The Centipeedle shot towards her, "Whoa!"

Garnet pushed her out the way and the Centipeedle tackled her through the ice.

"Garnet!" he and the two Gems yelled out.

He pushed up to his feet and ran towards the fight.

The Centipeedle bursted up from the ice with Garnet trying to keep the mouth open as she pushed the gem's upper mandible up with her gauntlets and pushed the bottom jaw down with her boots.

The corrupted gem ran pass the Gems and around the corner of the now new destroyed glacier. They ran after it and Steven slid to a stop. 

He ran back the opposite way and towards the glowing ice. He wound the first corner of it, in hopes to meet the gang head on.

He ran pass the second corner and reached the back of the iceberg.

He didn't see anyone within the flat sheets of ice.

"Guys?"

The trembles along the ground still hadn't creased.

He jogged a few steps up before stopping again. "Guuuuuuys!" 

No answer.

"Garnet!! Pearl!! Amethyst!!" 

No answer. 

"Where _are_ they.." he whispered before a terrifying thought came to him and his breath hitched. "What if the Centipeedle was too much for them?! What if.. WHAT IF THEY ALL GOT POOFED AND I HAVE TO FIND THEM OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWEHRE!!" then another thought as he raised his head up to shout out frantically. "WHAT IF I END UP GETTING FROSTBITE!! OR, OR FREEZING TO DEATH BEFORE FNDING EVEN ONE OF THEM!!" he caught a figure from the corner of his eye.

His mouth still slightly agaped from his frantic yelling, he turned to his side and gasped. "Whoa.."

There above him and inside of the fluorescent, glowing blue iceberg that he'd been talking to earleir... was a human figure. Below it, an unknown, large, furry mammal of some sort.

The human figure was perched cross-legged with each foot placed on the opposite thigh in lotus position within the ice. He had a glowing arrow on his bald head with the tip of arrow facing towards his face. His hands, closed into fists and held together each had one glowing arrow. The arrowhead pointing towards his knuckles. 

"A boy!" Steven exclaimed to no one. "And uh.. whatever that thing is with him!" 

He looked closer at the glowing arrows on the boy's skin. 

"Whoa.. super cool markings.." he whispered in awe as his breath cascaded from his lips. "It's like.. something off of one of my kung fu video games." 

Without any hesitation or so much as a slight nerve or cautious fear, he took an oblivious step towards the figure as the ground began to shake harder underneath of him. 


	4. Chapter three: Breaking the ice

Steven took his curious steps towards the mysterious boy with glowing arrow markings.

It was so cool.

It was so mysterious.

It was like he was entering some sort of secret part of one of his videogames and he was about to unveil some top secret information that would change the whole story of the game altogether as he went to another arc of the game.

He reached out with his glove as he took his last few steps to touch the surface of the ice-

The ground shook violently as the Centipeedle bursted out from the ground in front of him.

He screamed and backpedaled and fell back hard into the ice.

"Steven!!" Pearl yelled. She and Amethyst were holding onto the white hair of the Gem's head. 

He slipped as he scrambled back up to his feet. "Pearl!" 

"What are you doing! You need to go somewhere safe! You NEED to get out of here!" 

"But-!"

"Steven!" Garnet grunted. She held both of her arms and legs wrapped around the Centipeedle's mouth in an attempt in keeping it closed. "Go!" 

He groaned as he watched the corrupted gem buck and thrash her body against the iceberg, chipping more pieces of the ice from the surface and driving her elongated body down hard against the ice to get the Gems off of her. 

Her body writhed uncontrollably before she twisted her body forward and began rushing towards Steven in confused fury.

"Steven! Look out!" Pearl shouted.

"AAHHH!!" he ran the opposite way and back towards the iceberg as the corrupted gem continued her charge towards the edge of the ice.

He laid a hand on the cracked surface of the iceberg as he placed his other hand on his knee while panted, trying to catch his shaky breath.

A large crack shot across the sheet of ice in a deep fissure below him and he saw the ice crack up into the iceberg.

He gasped as the fissure ripped apart the middle of the iceberg as small cracks formed throughout the ice.

"Uh oh.." he took a step back as he watched more cracks engulf the glowing sphere. "U, uh.. guys?" he kept his eyes on the boy sitting still within the cracking ice. 

"Not now, Steven." he heard Pearl say behind him. "We need to poof and bubble this corrupted Gem-Whoa!" she ducked as the Gem's pincer swung over her head.

"I know.. but-"

"Steven," Garnet cut in as she gave a right hook to the Centipeedle's bottom mandible before landing back on the ice. "we're a little-" she dodged a spew of acid and ran towards the gem. "busy right now." the tail caught hold of her and wrapped around her and she grunted as she tried pushing the tail away. "Could it.." she strained under the Centipeedle's strength. "perhaps wait?" 

"Well.." deeper cracks formed from the inside. "M, maybe? Uh, I don't know.. I, think you guys just need to check this ou-" 

"Steven." Amethyst popped back up from a previous fall to the ground. She summoned another whip. "We're like, so close to winning right now. Go and talk to your little iceberg friend or something." she ran back towards the fight.

Pieces of ice began to fall as more cracks and fissures broke and shattered the surface of the sphere.

"But.. it _does_ have something to do with my iceberg friend." then he realized what she'd said and corrected with an irritated stomp of his foot. "Also, he's NOT an iceberg friend! He's an iceberg _buddy!"_

"Heheh, ch'yeaah, whatever dude." she didn't bother looking at him or the rupturing sphere as she jumped towards the upper body of the Centipeedle.

Steven pouted as he saw her run up the neck of the corrupted gem before it dove back down and she jumped off before it dug itself back into the sheet of ice, causing another violent quake.

He heard a loud, thunderous crack and he jumped and pivoted back around. 

Two more large fissures erupted from the surface as shards of ice broke and fell from the outside and within the sphere.

Steven watched the mysterious boy closely. "Well.." he whispered, "at least he doesn't seem effected by it.. Looks like he's still sleepi-"

The boy snapped open his glowing eyes as his glowing arrows grew brighter, eliciting a shocked gasp from Steven. "We woke him up out of his sleep!" he shouted. 

"Steven!! Look out!!" Pearl yelled. And he froze, petrified. 

"Steven!! Behind you!!" 

He kept his eyes on the glowing boy. "H, huh?" he couldn't move his legs. 

He felt a whip wrap around his torso and he felt his feet leave the ice as he found himself thirty feet up in the air.

The whip had spun him around and he saw the corrupted gem's mandibles pierced through the iceberg.

"Oh no! The boy!"

He was coming back down fast and he screamed.

The corrupted gem placed four of her front legs on either side of her on the iceberg and pulled her face out when a violent, tornado-like gust of wind blasted her away, along with the rest of the Gems.

The violent winds spun Steven around and he screamed louder. The whip unraveled from him and he heard his name being scream out by Pearl in a far off distance. 

Several deep fissures cracked through the ice before the intense pressure within the sphere bursted through, destroying the whole sphere itself and causing hurricane winds to blast throughout the area as a cylindrical beam of bluish light shot up into the sky from the middle of the crater where the sphere once was. 

"WhoAoAoAoOoOoOo." Steven was still being spun around as the slowly dying winds kept him afloat as it drifts him back down.

Blue light circled above the crater, fading slowly as it cascaded away from the area.

Winds began to diminish more as Steven's spinning slowed to a stop as he was sent down towards the ground. 

The winds finally vanished and he was sent falling the rest of the four feet down and face planting to the cracked ice.

He groaned into the ice cold ground.

He would've laid their longer, if it wasn't for the soft sound of feet on ice in front of him..

He pushed his self up and felt the ice nearly peel his skin from his face and he yelped and held his face. "OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow!" he kicked his legs in pain.

He saw light from behind his eyelids and he opened his eyes. Within the cracks of his fingers he could make out the boy, still glowing, as he slowly, weakly pushed his self up to a near stand.

The boy was looking directly at him.

Steven pulled his hands away from his red, near ice burnt face and threw them up in the air. "Don't hurt me!" he squeaked.

The boy said nothing.

"I, I, I... I come in.." he saw the boy's eyes lower weakly. "uh.. peace?" the boy stopped glowing as the circles of light vanished around them. He let out a weak, moan of exhaustion as his legs gave out on him and Steven saw him falling towards the ground.

He gasped. "He's hurt!" he ran towards the boy laying on his side on the ice.

He scrambled up the short, three feet of shaved snow and ice as it crushed underfoot. 

The boy laid there unmoving. 

Steven fell to his knees, just by the boy's face. He hesitated, not knowing exactly what to do before deciding to gently slip his hands underneath of the boy's head. He slowly lifted him up.

"Uh.. hello?" he whispered to him. 

The boy was unresponsive. 

"Hey... uh... iceberg boy?" 

Steven sat on his legs as he kept the boy still in his arms. 

Moments later and he saw a small bit of movement in the boy's face. His eyes tensed up before relaxing once more. A light groan came from him. 

"He's waking up." Steven said in an excited, hushed tone. 

The boy slowly began opening his eyes to reveal gray irises. 

"Y, you're awake." Steven said in awed, relief shock. 

"I.. need to ask you something.." he said in a horse, weak voice. 

"Oh, sure! What is it, iceberg buddy?" 

"Please.." the boy pleaded. "come closer.." 

"That doesn't sound suspicious.. Sure!" Steven leaned in. "Is this close enough?"

"Closer.."

"Wow, this must be something preeetty interesting you gotta tell me if I have to get this close." he leaned in more. 

Silence lingered on between the two..

..before the boy smiled brightly as he said in a clear, happy tone of voice, "Will you play a few games of Airball with me?" 

Steven tilted his head as his smile faltered to something apologetic. "I.. don't know what Airball is." his bright smile came back just as quick and bigger than before. "But sure!!" he exclaimed before his smile faltered once more as another thought came to his mind. "Oh, wait.. I'll have to ask the Gems first if I can go or not." a reassuring smile came to his face. "But I think they'll be fine with it!" he grinned widely.

"Steven!!" he heard Pearl shriek behind him. He turned around as the boy slid his face upwards in Steven's hand.

"What are you doing!!" Pearl, drenched from head to toe from the icy waters, was running towards them. Garnet running behind her with Amethyst pulling herself out of the ocean and shaking her whole body of the water.

Garnet tapped a purple, see-through bubble in her hand. Inside it was what looked to be a small, green and black gemstone, resembling that of the Corrupted Gem's eye. With that one tap on the top of the bubble, the purple bubble shot up quickly from her palm before disappearing into thin air. 

"Pearl!" Steven smiled.

The Gem raised her hand up to her glowing gem as a hilt of her spear materialized from it. She grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of her gemstone.

The boy gasped and pushed his self out of Steven's hands and to a sit.

"Pearl! Wait!" Steven held his hands up.

"Who is that boy! Get away from him!" she pulled her spear back.

Steven got up quickly to his feet, " Pearl, no!" 

The boy swung one hand out and they witnessed an invisible force crash into Pearl. The Gem sent flying back and screaming over the Gems as a gust of wind pushed the two back across the ice. Pearl soared overhead and across the ocean. 

Garnet and Amethyst looked on in shock. "What the.." Amethyst trailed off. Their eyes followed Pearl as she shot across the icy surface of the water.

Steven was just as much shocked and surprised as the Gems were, if not more. He turned slowly to the boy slowly getting up to his feet. 

"Did.. did _you_ do that just now?" 

The boy nodded obliviously to Steven's shocked looked. "Yeah." 

"Whoaaaaa~~ are you.. some kind of Jade?" another exciting thought came to his mind as he gasped excitedly. "You're a Gem-human hybrid too?!" 

The boy looked at him, confused. "No?" 

His smile dropped. "O.. oh.." then he wondered. "Then.. what _are_ you? -Uh, not to.. sound rude or anything." he looked behind the boy and to where the sphere once was. "Does it have something to do with that iceberg you were in?"

"..I was in an iceberg?" the boy scratched the back of his bald head. "I.. don't remember that."

"Really?" it was Steven's turn to be confused. "But how?"

Still rubbing his head, the boy shrugged. Steven saw him jump and he turned to see the Gem's closing the distance on them.

The boy took a step back and just as he raised his arms up-

Garnet and Amethyst stopped as Amethyst threw her palms up between them. "Whoa, man. I'm not trying to go airborne." it sounded more of a jest than a serious plea. 

"Don't worry." Garnet quickly added. "We won't hurt you."

The boy kept his arms up but looked to Steven's smiling face. "You don't have to be afraid of them. They're - _we're_ the good guys."

"That other one didn't seem too friendly.."

"What, Pearl?" Amethyst scoffed. "She's always acting like that. Don't worry about her."

He turned his attention back to Steven.

He was nodding in agreement. "As she always says, it's in her best interest." he stated matter-of-factly. 

The boy still looked tense, but slowly, he lowered his arms back down.

"Yay for peace and understanding!" Steven cheered.

Garnet nodded and her attention was back on the boy. She looked at his clothing.. the arrow markings on his skin.. 

"So.." she began. "it appears that we came across someone after all." there was a small hint of a smirk on her face.

"Huh?"

"A little inside joke." said Steven. "I told the Gems that I saw two people on a boat in the middle of the ocean." he said casually. "But they didn't believe me." then he'd quickly corrected as he shook his head, "But he wasn't who I saw earlier. I found him in an iceberg." 

Amethyst snorted. "What?"

"An iceberg?" Garnet inquired plainly.

"I.. don't remember." he said innocently.

Steven smiled widely and threw his arms up. "We're iceberg buddies!" then he realized something and turned to the boy. "But.. you still never answered my question iceberg buddy. What exactly are you?"

The boy opened his mouth just as Garnet quickly answered, "An airbender." 

Amethyst's eyes opened wide as realization came to her.

The boy nodded. "Sure am."

Steven raised an eyebrow. "Wait.. an Airbender?" he looked up at the tall, stoic Gem. "But.. Garnet? I thought all airbenders were-"

"Please to meet you." The Gem lowered her gauntlet hand to him. The weaponized glove disintegrated in motes of light in front of him. 

"Whoa.." he looked at her palm. "How did you do.." Garnet tipped her head forward and behind her visors he could see a round, purple gemstone just between her eyes. "You're.. a Gem." he looked fazed and Garnet slowly lowered her hand from him. 

"Yeah." said Steven. "You didn't know that?" 

Mouth slightly agaped, he shook his head. 

"You uh.. don't really seem too thrilled." said Steven. 

The boy's face dropped to something apprehensive. He touched the tips of his index fingers together as he looked away from the tall Gem. "It's just.. there's not a lot of.. _nice._ Gems either.." 

"WhhhaaaAAATT!! But, WE are nice Gems!" he exclaimed. 

They watched the boy's reaction change in a split of a second to shock. " 'We'?" 

Steven was quick to pull up every layer of clothing to reveal the pink gemstone on his stomach. "I'm a Gem too." then he clarified. "And, also kinda human."

The boy's wide eyes never left his gem. "How is that possible.." 

Steven shrugged. "I'm the only one of my.. kind? Species?.. Uh.. type?" he pushed the clothes back down with a smile. "We still don't know what to call it." 

"Wow.." and a huge, friendly smile came to his own face. "Cool!" he leaned in towards Steven. "So you're both a Gem _and_ a human." 

A bashful side smile came to Steven's face. "Heh.. well. I just have the gemstone. I, haven't been able to use any of my powers.." 

_"Yet."_ Garnet assured him.

"Wow, actual nice Gems.." he leaned back as if in a disbelief, shocked daze. He rubbed at the back of his head once more. "I get caught in a storm, I end up waking up after being freed from an iceberg and now.. I'm talking to nice Gems.. whoaa.." he took a step back as he viewed the near endless ocean around them. "And.." he frowned slightly as he dropped his hand back to his side. "now I'm far away from home." 

"Heh, yeah." Amethyst said under her breath. "About a hundred years too far." 

"That's not funny." Garnet scolded her.

The Gem hung her head down. "I know.."

Steven took a leap towards the boy. "Hey! How about we take you back to the Temple!"

They could see the shine of hope and happiness in the airbender's face. "You mean you know where the Southern Air Temple is?!"

"Uh.. no? I mean, I do know.." he said softly before going for a friendly tone to his voice as he suggested, "But I meant you can come with us where _we_ live."

"Mmm.." his mouth poked up slightly. "I.."

"Why not? I know you have to be hungry. You've been in that sphere for awhile." he looked at the boy's unique clothing. "And cold. I know you have to be that too." 

"Mmnoo.." he shook his head. "I'm not cold." a beat. "Or hungry.. Not _really_." he looked back at the vast ocean. "Besides.. I really need to go back to the Air Temple." 

Steven looked at him with a confused yet apologetic look to his eyes. "But.. you can't." 

"Why-?"

Steven was about to answer when Garnet cut in, "Right now." she said before emphasizing. "You can't. right now." 

Steven and Amethyst exchanged skeptical glances to each other before looking back up at her. 

The airbender looked at the plain faced Gem. "But.. why can't I go _now-?"_

"Steven!"

Garnet and Amethyst turned around as Steven cheesed widely. "Pearl!"

The Gem was running towards them with the spear in her hand. "Step away. from Steven." 

The boy was taking a stance-

"Oh NO you don't, Jade!" she shouted. "Not THIS time." 

Garnet took a step forward towards Pearl. "Pearl, wait." 

"He's going to attack Steven!"

"Pearl! He's one of the good guys!" Steven said. "Like us!" 

"Pearl," Garnet's voice was calm yet it still held much of its serious tone to every word. "you need to stop." 

The slim, pale Gem looked to Garnet's tight lipped look before eventually slowing herself down on the ice. 

She was just a few yards away..

The spear still held at an angle in her hand and ready to make its strike at any moment.

"He isn't a threat." said Garnet.

The opposing Gem watched the boy who was slowly putting his hands back down. A very uncomfortable, timid expression was on his face.

"He's an Airbender, Pearl."

She heard Garnet's voice as she glanced over at the arrow markings on the boy's head and arms. "An Airbender..-" she wondered.

"Yeah! And I found him in an iceberg." Steven chimed in.

She narrowed her eyes at the boy standing beside Steven. "I don't understand.." she made her way towards them and he took a step back before Steven grabbed his arm gently. He stopped, but still made a subtle stance beside him.

"What were you doing in an iceberg?" Pearl asked skeptically.

"I don't know." he said softly. "I didn't even know I was in the iceberg until he told me." 

Pearl was closing the distance between them as she walked in between Garnet and Amethyst. "Something is up." she whispered coarsely. "You were in an iceberg, yet.. you're not frozen." she stuck her nose up at him. "Something doesn't add up here." 

"I'm not sure what's going on either." 

She didn't look convinced.

"Pearl, he's an _Air_ bender." Garnet repeated.

"That.." she shook her head slowly, her face slowly beginning to look conflicted. "And _that_ still doesn't make any sense.." 

"Uh... I.. don't get what.. me being an Airbender is the big deal here."

"You just answered your own question." said Pearl. She kept her spear pointing towards him. Just inches away from his chest. 

Screams were heard in a short distance and as they all turned their heads, they saw two people barely hanging on a piece of ice as they rushed towards them through the rapid current in the ocean. 

Steven gasped as he pointed. "Those are the people that I saw earlier!" 

_"More_ people?! I thought this place was supposed to be uninhabited!" said Pearl.

"Heh, guess we were wrong P." said Amethyst.

Pearl pivoted around back to the boy. "Don't tell me this was _your_ doing." 

He held his hands up as he shook his head. "It wasn't me. Honest. I wouldn't do that." 

The two siblings on the small piece of ice crashed into the edge of the icy ground. The two falling hard and sliding across the ice covered terrain and towards the Gems..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that y'all are enjoying the story so far! ~o~
> 
> I can't wait to write more and progress more of the story :3 I have soo many ideas for this! ^_^


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